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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

First it was Etsy....then came Pinterest (pinning many items from Etsy)....and now it's Polyvore. This is my new hobby. I've been able to do so much with Pinterest to organize dinner ideas, get decorating inspiration, and outfit ideas. I clicked on an outfit I liked and it took me to Polyvore. I seriously have heard of this site before, but had no idea that I could sit and select pieces I adore to make collections--from shirts to pants to shoes and bags.

I've been using Polyvore to plan what I wear -- what a fun tool it is! I am a busy mom on the go. Even though I do not have a job that is in a professional environment, I still like to maintain my sense of style while working from home. Polyvore is really a fun site to help me put together pieces so I can see what works, what doesn't work, and get new ideas for what possibly could work...

My 8 year old has a bad habit during the winter--picking at his cuticles. I admit, I used to do the same as a child. Many adults have abused cuticles as well. The weather also affects the condition of our cuticles, so I'd like to tackle cuticle care today.

First of all, it's important to take good care of your cuticles. They actually serve as protection for the new keratin (hard protein that protects the fingertips) and helps to prevent infection. When you take care of your cuticles, it will show in the health of your nails.

This makes about 3-4 tubes (I recommend Elements Bath & Body Supply for quantities this small). I say 3 to 4 tubes because, for me, it depends on clumsiness and spilling! I like to make this in lip balm tubes because I can keep one by my bedside table, give one to each boy, and keep one in my purse too. I also like using little metal tins for this project. You can also use glass baby food jars.

Recipe

2 teaspoons of Grated Beeswax (I use a cheese grater for this)

1 t. Shea Butter

4 t. Hemp Seed Oil

1 t. Avocado Oil

Note: If you do not have these supplies, read on. You can use cocoa butter, coffee butter or mango butter in exchange for shea. As for the oils, you can substitute macadamia nut, sweet almond, sunflower, safflower, soybean, olive, coconut, etc. I just like avocado and hemp seed for cuticle care, but you really can use other oils.

Take your tube and apply directly to the cuticles. Massage in and rub right over your nails too. Follow with a natural hand cream. My top hand cream picks:

Sunday, January 29, 2012

I love accessories. I love hats, brooches, necklaces, scarves--anything to add a bit of pop to my standard repertoire of black, navy, or charcoal.

A couple of weeks back, I was browsing Etsy (big shocker, isn't it?) and stumbled upon a great little shop owned by Brandi Korte called Redesign. Brandi's business is an ecofriendly one--she loves to turn thrifty finds and "junk" into something completely new. Right now, she's been creating lots of great things from old t-shirts. I ordered three infinity scarves and they arrived very promptly.

I ordered one is a bright cherry red, one in deep green, and the other one is shown above and is taupe, cream, and black. They are soft, made well, and really add something extra to a cute top and jeans.

You'll also find brooches and necklaces upcycled from t-shirts. I've been shopping on Etsy for years now and always come across the kindest, most wonderful sellers. Brandi is one of them! Check out her shop today and be sure to tell her that Chic & Green sent you on over!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

It's time for our first foray into a thrifty, and absolutely fabulous project together.

Vinyl records are nostalgic, retro, sleek, shiny and cool.

I have a record player, but, you might not.

You might, however, have a big box in the attic full of Elvis, the Stones, maybe Frank Sinatra.... and for whatever reason, might not be ready to part with them. I do have a great idea for you... and it's either free or wouldn't cost you more than a buck!

Grab those records from your attic, OR get yourself to the local Goodwill or Salvation Army where you can pick up a record for $.50. Grab your cookie sheet, a couple of metal or glass bowls, turn your oven on to 200' and let's do this!

Record Bowls!

Step one: Preheat your oven to 200'. And turn on your vent... the fumes are minimal, really, but, best to turn it on.

Step Two: Get yer bowls (the 2 bowls should be similar in size) and cookie sheet out.

Step Three: Grab yer record and place it on top of one of the bowls.

Step Four: Put them in the oven!

Step Five: Watch and wait. It doesn't take long. Could be as little as 2 minutes, as many as 5. You'll know it's time when the vinyl begins to get all warp-y and wonky.

Step Six: Remove everything from the oven, place the second bowl over the record and press down. The bowl will sink with the soft vinyl into the bowl underneath. Like so!

Step Seven: Take the record bowl out and let it cool. This literally takes mere seconds and voila!

You can use these for almost anything. Mine are on a table near the front door as a catchall for keys and such and one holds our various remotes. Being record vinyl, I wouldn't put food in them. Maybe something with a shell or peel, otherwise, no. But, lined with a cloth napkin it would be a great chip server! Really, the possibilities are endless.

So are the ways you can tweak these to your individual tastes! I use the bowl in bowl method, but you can shape these by hand, arranging the "ruffles" to your liking... or, using another, oven safe, shaped dish. A small square cake pan, for instance, turned upside down and shaped by hand, would be great looking. I've shown colored vinyl here, but, obviously, regular black vinyl records are excellent, too!

Have fun! Be creative! There's really no right answer here, and very little to lose.

Friday, January 27, 2012

It has been an exhausting couple days. I've been feeling a bit unlike myself these past few days with some numbness in my arms and hands and pain in the right side of my chest. I've been uncomfortable and just feeling "blah". My hand numbness made me drop my flat iron while straightening my hair the other day and that was just one of those things that triggered the "this isn't normal" response. Thankfully I had a good EKG and am awaiting results from all the blood that was drawn this morning and a chest x-ray from earlier this afternoon. I am by nature a bit of a worrier, but I've learned always to trust your inner voice if it tells you something is off. I learned that lesson 3 years back when I kept making excuses for my off feelings then.

Talking with you all always helps to keep me grounded and more calm. And, speaking of "Keep Calm", here are some Etsy finds:

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Yesterday, we used First Lady Michelle Obama's stunning sapphire blue color as inspiration for an Etsy Love feature. Today, we're going to use the Secretary of State's skinny headband as inspiration for our post. Hillary Clinton's headbands never used to be that on trend, but she rocked it the other night with a skinny Chanel-esque band for her longer bob.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

You wouldn't have looked to the State of the Union Address for fashion trends too many year ago, but I'm always eager to see what our First Lady is wearing. From her trademark aubergine dresses to last night's bright royal blue, I generally love what Michelle Obama chooses to wear. She's a beautiful lady.

I was surprised, though, to be impressed with Hillary Clinton's headband choice last night. I think she looked particularly lovely last night and adored her skinny headband!

Using these two strong and intelligent women as inspiration, I thought I'd do a special Etsy Love: SOTU Style Edition! today, we'll look at Michelle Obama's sapphire blue and tomorrow we'll look at the Secretary of State's skinny headband.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Hello, Chic & Green-ers!

Please allow me to introduce myself....

I'm Elizabeth: Friend to Karley. Mommy to Ellie. Family to many. Blogger to my readers at Chandelierious. Sometimes a singer/actor. Always a lover of incredibly thrifty finds or projects! As a newly single mom, that last part, being thrifty? That's now sort of a necessity.

And I know I am not alone in that! Even before that, though, I found much more joy and satisfaction in the thrill of the hunt than in the ease of buying a mass-produced end table at Target. (That said, I love me some Target, and probably do have one of their end tables somewhere. I digress.)

Finding something at the Salvation Army for a couple of dollars, for example, and turning it into a personal, one-of-a-kind conversation piece is really, really fun. And easy! And you can absolutely do it, too. All you just need is a little time (and, believe me, I understand that novelty), an imagination, and maybe some paint and a glue gun. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little paint and a glue gun!

I crave discovery, creation, transformation, repurposing, making things beautiful... and doing it all on a budget. That's what I'll be sharing here as Chic and Green's new 'Thrifty and Fabulous" editor!

I will be back soon with something fabulous up my thrifty little sleeve!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Made From Earth is a natural skin care company I've told you about before here on the blog. They offer some really lovely products for face and body -- in fact, I've never tried one that wasn't lovely. They have recently come out with a new product called Vitamin Enhanced Moisturizer.

With a silky and lightweight texture, the cream is suitable for all skintypes and is packed with beneficial ingredients such as Rooibos Tea Extract, polypeptides; vitamins A, B, C, and E; as well as other collagen boosters to help your skin. There is also white willowbark, a natural form of salicylic acid. This is beneficial for skin renewal.

This cream has a retail value of $74.99 and one of my readers has a chance to win! Enter below with Rafflecopter. Note that you MUST comment on this post to be fully entered.

Friday, January 20, 2012

One of my favorite blogs to read is Lemonade Makin' Mama by Sasha B. She is also a fellow Etsy artisan. Please check out her shop here. Sasha had a really fun post yesterday about things she was doing right then and there called Currently.

Here's my version for this chilly Friday. Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Currently loving... life. I truly love each day of this life, whether difficult or joyous! I try to savor each moment, even these lazy ones.

Currently reading... today's special coverage in the paper of the Kodak bankruptcy (I live where the HQ is and it's a huge part of our community)

Currently waiting for... 3pm to arrive. I miss Nick and Ben and want to smother them with hugs after school today!

Currently planning...to get my rear in gear and go downstairs to get the laundry out of the dryer (rather than simply rehitting start)

Currently singing... "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...I mentioned it the other day on the blog and I've been finding myself singing as I remember my friend Bernie.

Currently needing...to schedule a massage. I feel a huge knot in my shoulder blades and think I should treat myself to something nice.

Currently learning... that I should spend less time on Pinterest when I am trying to get something done.

Currently listening to...Etta James (she passed away today and I just thought I'd play her beautiful music) on Spotify.

Currently wishing... that the special people in my life who are struggling in one way or another or who have endured loss can one day smile again.

Currently doing...laundry....although I can't seem to get the motivation to fold it right now.

Currently dreaming of... my next weekend away with my husband. We had such an incredible time when we went to the William Henry Miller Inn for our anniversary and I want to go again in the spring or summer.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I have put my hair through lots of trauma (and chemicals) over the past 24 hours. I am an at-home colorer. I'm no stranger to doing my hair--I've done it since college. Dark, light, foils, lowlights, highlights, I've done it all.

So when Deanna posted that she was thinking of changing up her blonde to red and posted some pretty pictures, I thought that I could use a change as well.

As a porous blonde from repeated highlights, I knew I would need a little "filler" first. I used a semipermanent shade from L'Oreal called Healthy Look in Light Red Brown. I then planned to add a golden brown over it and add some highlights. The Healthy Look took in 3-4 minutes. My hair came out deep eggplant. So I REALLY needed to tone it down and throw in those highlights. First, I threw in Revlon Colorsilk in Medium Golden Chestnut Brown. Then I added Revlon Frost & Glow.

The result:

Anyway, after some brutally honest opinions from my boys and the fact that it took 90 minutes for Tom to say anything (as in, "As long as you like it, I like it), I went to bed planning to change it again today. My skin is very cool with lots of pink and blue undertones. The red simply clashed...

After my morning coffee, I went to Walmart and headed back down the hair color aisle. I knew I needed to tone down the bright red tones. I used L'oreal Excellence to Go 10 minute color in Light Ash Brown.

I left it in 8 minutes and it really toned the red down. I dried it for the second time today (hair, I am so sorry for this abuse!) and then applied Revlon Frost & Glow in the Platinum Kit, leaving it on for 40 minutes.

I rinsed it out and got out my hair dryer for the third time today. I feel so much more like "me" but with a slight change from what it was pre-red. It's weird. When I was in college, I could change up my hair color or style every few days. As I grow older, I get less daring :)

There's lots more dimension, though, and I am much more content. Remarkably, with all the stuff I put on it, I spend a grand total of $28 on hair color. Not too bad!

I have to say that my hair is silky and soft and that is because of my secret weapon: Original Moxie Intense Quench. I applied this liberally today. My hair should feel like straw. Heck, it probably should've started coming out in clumps with the damage I put it through. I am in love with this deep conditioner and it has kept my hair feeling strong and looking shiny!

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